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Breathy keyboards, austere vocals and sparse guitar create the gray, rainy mood portrayed both within and without the latest release from songwriter Nic Garcia, aptly entitled The Desperate Ones.

From the get-go, Garcia aims for a full, moody album rather than a compilation of catchy songs. His opener, the brief (less than two minutes) and haunting instrumental “Song One” sets the dreary tone that drips continually like cold, lonely autumn rain through the rest of the dozen songs included on the disc.

Using intriguing breaks, jarring time switches and layered tracking, Garcia creates beautifully bleak textures in his songs. “Crosses,” for instance, melds airy background noises with solitary piano notes, tremolo guitar and Garcia’s deadpan vocals. The fog clears on “Safe” with brighter steel-string rays shining through the clouds. Still, Garcia is a sonic painter who wets his brush from a mostly graytone palette.

RIYL: Iron and Wine, Elliott Smith, Cowboy Junkies, acoustic Jesus & Mary Chain.

Greg Adams
9/19/06